VUMC COVID-19 Research Activities

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Research continues at VUMC into the causes, treatment and prevention of COVID-19. See below to learn more about basic/translational, clinical/interventional and population health research now in progress.

Are you conducting COVID-19 research at Vanderbilt? Please use this brief survey to tell us about your ongoing basic, clinical and/or population sciences research efforts related to SARS-COV-2 and COVID-19: https://redcap.link/COVID19Research

Research conducted at VUMC into the causes, treatment and prevention of COVID-19

Funded by NIAID and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Enrichment Program Award

Isaac Thomsen (Pediatrics) and Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Programcolleagues have developed a liquid bead-based assay for the quantification of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies following COVID-19 disease. Now using the assay to investigate whether severity of COVID-19 disease correlates with antibody titers, and working with the Mark Denison lab to determine the amount of antibody required to neutralize the virus.

Ingrid Mayer, Justin Balko and Brian Rini (Medicine) are collaborating with University of Minnesota on a national trial testing HCQ or placebo in high risk (pre-exposure) health care workers. This includes a substudy for collection of blood-based correlatives on ~300 health care workers for seroconversion studies.

VUMC efforts in Healthcare Worker Exposure Response and Outcomes (HERO) research program led by HERO steering committee co-chair Russell Rothman (Institute for Medicine and Public Health), and VUMC lead PI Sean Collins (Emergency Medicine)

Todd Rice (Medicine) and team collaborating with Blade Therapeutics to evaluate the safety and antiviral activity of novel small molecule BLD-2660 in a Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in hospitalized subjects with recently diagnosed COVID-19

Hendrik Weitkamp (Pediatrics) teams up with Duke Clinical Institute to study pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and safety profile of understudied drugs administered to children under standard of care for treatment of COVID-19 and other conditions

Robert Lentz (Medicine) and colleagues launch international COVIDBRONCH Initiative, an network of airway specialists formed to quickly share knowledge regarding the performance of airway procedures during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Brenda Pun serves as American lead investigator on this international, 100-site retrospective study of the risk factors and epidemiology of delirium and coma in COVID-19 patients while admitted to the ICU. Study aims to report the prevalence of delirium at initial management in critical care, to report its morbidity and mortality and to identify prognostic factors.